Whilst In Sweden; We Have A Meme For July

A couple of memes. One, “Ten Things I Love,” from Juleps and Jon Jons. She’s a newish blogger, from down south. Please go say hi to her, if you have a minute. The other meme, seen in questions below, came from Hostess of the Humble Bungalow, a blogger of our certain age, as we say. Please say hi to her too, if you would be so kind.

1. What Experience Most Shaped You And Why? (That You Love) My little conflation leads me here. The sentence, “That you love,” becomes the answer. Learning to love, whoever and however, has shaped me. Because if we aren’t who and what we love then we are who and what we fear. You either move towards or away. As my brother the Jungian analyst said, famously, in a wedding toast, “Always move in the direction of love.”

2. If You Had A Whole Day With No Commitments, What Would You Do? (That You Love)Well, since I have neither a job, nor a full nest, I do have whole days with no commitments. Many of them. And, clearly, I choose to write this blog:). Thank you for reading.

3. What Food Or Drink Could You Never Give Up? (That You Love)Water. I mean, really, water. I am always thirsty. Getting older seems to turn one into an evaporation pan. A basin to the world. I might worry about becoming a pillar of salt, if I thought about it. So I drink a lot of water. Luckily, I also love the way water tastes. It does taste. Really, it does. What is your favorite version of H2O?

4. If You Could Travel Anywhere, Where Would That Be And Why? (That You Love)Although it’s often hard to see the possibilities, one can always travel anywhere in the world somehow. Except, in my experience, when one has recently given birth, at which point the universe opens up to reveal the unknown and a trip to the drugstore becomes a full voyage. That said, Sweden…

5. Who Do You Have A Crush On? (That You Love)Ladies are allowed to have secrets.

6. If You Were A Leader Of Your Country, What Would You Do? (That You Love)Ah. Ah. What would I do that I love, were I leader of the United States? Things I love, when nothing hinges on my activity, include reading, lying on sofas, writing, eating, sleeping, walking, watching Say Yes To The Dress. I do not think, however, were I the leader of the USA that I would love those things. Were I leader, the state of the nation would plague me so that I would have to get off the sofa.

I don’t know the answer to our problems. Economic and political systems are terribly, terribly complicated. All I know is that the country is too divided right now. That somehow good minds with different opinions are unable to communicate, unable to collaborate, and unable to pose questions within answerable frameworks.

So were I leader, most of all I’d try to change the nature of our discourse. Separate politics from religion, separate economics from emotion, source some common ground and baseline beliefs from which to move forward, and set aside the irreconcilable into an agree to disagree category.

Perhaps once I had tried all that, I would need to go back and lie on the sofa.

7. Give Me One Savory Recipe That Doesn’t Include Cheese (That You Love)Done!

8. If You Could Spend Just One Day In Someone Else’s Body, Who Would It Be? (That You Love)I’d spend the day in the body of anyone I love. Simply to be able to better serve and make them happier by understanding how it feels to be them.

9. What Women Writer—Living Or Dead—-Do You Most Admire And Why? (That You Love)Phew. Exempt from any writers I might admire but not love. That still leaves far too many to choose amongst. So I’ll pick the first who comes to mind. Louise Erdrich, author of The Beet Queen and a subsequent series. Poetic, funny, romantic.

As a nod to Sweden, I would like to pass this on to the readers and commenters of Privilege who I believe live up North. Some people do memes, some do not. I am not passing on the obligation, only the recognition.

Tabitha, up in the north of the UK, new to me, an archetypal Grande Dame in dress and style.

Paula, from Germany, and an enthusiastic commenter here who warms my heart.

Metscan, blogging in Hagaland. That’s Finland. She has horses, exquisite taste, and a Nordic tone to her voice. Need I say more?

Lauren, blogging in Manhattan. Yes. I count that as the North. May be the most verbally gifted person I have ever met. Her blog is a little impenetrable at first, as she doesn’t care much for standard punctuation. But it’s absolutely worth the effort. If you like to read, don’t miss Beyond Thundertome. I can’t explain.

The Preppy Princess, Michigan, I think. That’s North. Definitely North. From here at least. Writing sly commentary on preppy and other kinds of fashion. She is one of the best-mannered people I’ve ever met. In the true sense. If you like preppy gear of any sort, please go look at her blog and her site.

Louise Erdrich! Every time another book of hers appears, it's as though Christmas has arrived. Another little piece of the puzzle. And then, because I have difficulty keeping all the family connections and convolutions straight, I have to return to Love Medicine (which I first read when I was about nineteen) and read them all again before I finally start the new volume. (All right, I don't have that much difficulty; I just need an excuse.)

Thanks for the mention and for taking the time to do this post…Perrier with lemon or lime would be my purchased bottled water…and at home it's filtered tap water with lemon and lime.Have a great time in Sweden.

Hi Lisa!thank you :-)I will happily do the meme, my first meme. After dealing with all the photos recently i am looking forward to this weekend-task.btw: I live in Vienna, Austria. Since we have very very little daylight in winter-time and experience a hot summer right now (while down-under is turning on their heatings), I guess "yes, I come from the north, too". Accepted? ;-)We have tons of mosquitos around here at the moment. Sweden probably has them, too. It this aint a nod what is? Someone recently invented "taser rackets". Small yellow plastic rackets with high voltage. We sit around like jerks, waving with yellow taser-rackets through the air, trying to grill the mosquitos. After drinking some mojitos, the sizzing lightening mosquites remind us of falling stars in the night-sky and everyone screams "A falling star" and there, another one!" From the outside this must seem crazy. As if men themselves weren't already ridiculous enough while chasing mosquitos: balancing on the chair, trying to reach the mosquito at the ceiling. They do it with a yellow high voltage racket (toddler's-size). Which never ever must get close the wet nose of Gini the dog! Let the mosquito bite the dog!

Thank you Lisa for remembering me, when choosing blogs to take part in this game. So sorry to report, that this series of questions, I have already done, just a week or two before. But next time? I ´m sure you are having a wonderful week over in Sweden, as it seems like all Europe is having sunny days!

01: being admitted to the college of my choice and realizing that getting what i wanted and doing things my way (in that case, trusting who i was and how i presented myself instead of running myself into the ground as my guidance counselor suggested) didn't have to be mutually exclusive.

02: i would take a book and an old blanket out to central park and bask like a lizard in sheep meadow. the grass and the dragonflies under that great bowl of sky are stupefying in july.

03: coffee. my mother and i would have big, cheap mugs of it together over the crossword puzzle before i left for school in the morning, and my father and i would get coffeehouse cups of it and wander around shopping centers in the evening, telling each other stories, wasting time.

04: iceland. i would like to see the northern lights, and volcanoes, and little children chucking pufflings. i also want to get a tattoo there.

05: joseph gordon-levitt, as i was reminded when i saw inception on friday. young men of the world, please take a page from his book and shave.

Summer's excesses have kept me away from my laptop, and I am just now, some 10 days later, catching up on your blog and finding the link to our honeybee biz in northern Montana – thank you, Lisa! I think I will try this out on my blog next week. Welcome home!

Off to hunt up my neglected Louise Erdrich books, unread for a few years, but loved.

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Am I serious? Privilege? Yes. At least when I'm not joking. While privilege can teach you what color shoes to wear with navy blue, nothing beats the privilege of being alive. So let's talk style, in the context of culture. Let's focus on the over-50. For more, please go here. Or you can reach me at my email: skyepeale@yahoo.com. That's the name I wanted to be called when I was 16. Ah. 16....